Growth by Gratitude
And that’s going to be the solution to the great problem of how can we gain all these things that Hashem is demanding of us: to fear Hashem, and to walk in all of His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all our heart and with all our soul and so on. Because it’s a problem, a real problem: How do we come to all those forms of perfection? We’re ordinary people living in an ordinary world. How can we achieve all of these great levels of avodas Hashem?
The answer is that avodas Hashem starts when a man understands what Hakadosh Baruch Hu did for him, when he studies all the benefits that are being showered on him. Not only today! A man can say—even a seventy year old man—“How fortunate I am that I was born! How many miscarriages take place in the world and I made it! I’m not a cripple! I’m not blind! I have so many limbs and so many organs, and every one is functioning and each one is a miracle of plan and purpose.”
And after a while he begins to ask a big question, a very big question. הָמ יָלָﬠ יƒהֹלוּמו¿‚ַּ ̇ לָּכ ם≈ּׁ ַ̆ל יבƒׁ ָ̆‡ – “What can I do to pay back to Hashem for all that He's doing to me?”
And that’s what Rabbi Meir comes to teach us – that the key is hidden in the possuk itself. הָ‡≈מ ‡ָּל∆‡ הָמ יƒר¿ ּ̃ƒ ̇ לַ‡– What does Hashem want of you? A hundred brachos. And from those hundred brachos, you’ll attain “all of the components of the complete service that is pleasing to Hashem” (Mesillas Yesharim, Hakdamah). Rabbi Meir tells us that by means of this easy way—or relatively easy way—of appreciating all of the good things that we are enjoying, that’s the key to success.
And you’re going to see that this is not only the road to come close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but this road will also be the royal road to fulfillment and happiness in life. After a while you become happy with so many things that you actually are a happy man. You’ll actually appreciate the gifts. And the happiness will last all your life—and not only all your life, but it will last you into Olam Haba. If we’ll enjoy this world one hundred times a day, and if we express our gratitude to Hashem each time, that’s the road not only to happiness in this world, but to the perfection in avodas Hashem that brings you eternal happiness in the World to Come.
Have A Wonderful Shabbos
